What is the adoption rate of e-commerce in China? What are consumers buying online?
E-commerce is starting to boom in China, especially amongst Chinese youth who are comfortable online and who are buying items such as Q coins to buy virtual products for their avatars in online game communities. To what extent is online fraud a concern among China’s Internet population? Fraud is a major concern. Alibaba’s Alipay took this concern seriously when they incorporated escrow into their Alipay Services. [Escrow services help to safeguard transactions by withholding funds from a seller until the buyer receives and approves the goods.] eBay’s Paypall did not incorporate Escrow until much later. eBay’s lack of understanding of consumers’ concerns over fraud is one of the factors, if not the main reason, it failed here. The fear of fraud is one of the biggest constraints hampering e-commerce in China. What is the most popular mode of payment among Chinese online shoppers? Many online transactions continue to be completed by a cash-on-delivery system, because credit cards are not
